


dealing with dragons

by starkly



Series: you don't have to do this alone [11]
Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Dragons, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 21:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13396305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: “I am glad to see you enjoying yourself,” Anthony says. “I could show you how to change the angle of the telescope, if you wish.”“A dragon who studies the stars,” Virginia scoffs, brushing him off. “I didn’t think your kind were interested in anything other than treasure.”“Science is a treasure,” he says so sincerely she almost feels bad for mocking him. “It’s one of the reasons I like James very much. He understands.”





	dealing with dragons

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2017 and posted at [dailyironfamily](http://dailyironfamily.tumblr.com/post/167398232280/day-11-medieval-au) on tumblr. This fic was proofread before being posted here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Day eleven: medieval AU. Which I tweaked slightly to make a medieval fantasy AU featuring prince Rhodey, knight Pepper, and dragon Tony. There’s about 10k worth of ideas shoved into 3k of fic but I had to wrap this up if I wanted to post it on time.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a King and Queen, just and fair, who ruled over the people. They had three sons, the youngest of whom was named James. James was an inquisitive child, mostly left to his own devices, as the eldest brother was set to inherit the kingdom, and the middle brother to inherit control of the Royal Guard. As he grew, he became more adventurous, dabbling in the sciences, venturing out into the kingdom on his own, and generally getting himself into trouble. His parents loved his daring, but they worried for his safety, and appointed him a companion from the Guard.

Sir Virginia Potts was young and inexperienced, but she had been friends with Prince James since her days as a squire, and the King and Queen hoped she could encourage some restraint in their son. Virginia took her job very seriously, but she did not have much success in tempering James’s venturesome spirit. More often she was roped along into his schemes, and the two could be found running from a pack of angry trolls or irritated castle staff.

This continued for several years until, on the eve of his twenty-third birthday, Princes James was kidnapped by a dragon.

Virginia swore to the King and Queen that she would return their son safely to them, and set off to the dragon’s rumored stronghold: an abandoned castle in the mountains. It was a long journey, taking two weeks on horse and then by foot. The keep was ancient, not recorded on many recent maps, but Virginia collected information from people in the area and compared her findings to the maps she had. Soon enough the castle was revealed to her, and she drew her sword and strode up to the doors.

As she called out to the foul beast to show itself and return the prince to her, she was surprised when the doors opened to reveal Prince James himself. He grinned sheepishly at her, inviting her inside, and Virginia wondered what he had gotten himself into this time.

* * *

“I’m sorry, you  _what_?” she asks, unsure she was hearing this properly.

“I wasn’t kidnapped. I ran away,” James says again, though it’s as ridiculous hearing it the second time as the first.

“Why would you run away? Without telling me?”

“Because you’d try to stop me.”

She can’t say that’s untrue, but it still hurts, knowing James hadn’t even confided in her about his plan. “Your parents are worried sick, James.”

James does look ashamed about that much, at least. “I know, and I’m sorry. But I couldn’t exactly tell them I was leaving either.”

“What did you do, James? And what about the dragon who’s taken this castle?”

The doors to the dining hall open with a loud creak, and Virginia’s hand goes to her sword, instantly on alert.

“James? Who’s our guest?”

The man who speaks is handsome, dark-haired, maybe a couple years older than them, but there’s something unsettling about his eyes, and Virginia keeps her hand firmly on the hilt of her sword.

James shoots her a worried look and says, “Virginia, this is Anthony. He owns the castle.”

Anthony’s eyes shimmer, snake’s eyes for a tenth of a second, and Virginia gasps and draws her sword.

* * *

James explains everything once he manages to calm Virginia down enough to stop attacking the man. Anthony is a dragon, yes, (his real name unpronounceable by human tongue), but he never tried to kidnap James, or harm him. James ran away with him because they’re in love. Virginia listens to this explanation while glaring at Anthony the whole time, waiting for him to try something, though he never does.

Despite this, she’s not about to just leave empty-handed. If James won’t return home, then Virginia will stay here with him as his protector until such a time as he comes to his senses and returns with her. Anthony bristles at the arrangement, but James agrees, just glad that no one is getting stabbed or set on fire.

No one else lives in the castle, which is understandably in disrepair. James shows her to quarters that are mostly still intact, and she spends the time asking him questions about Anthony—how strong is his magic, how did they meet, is he the dragon who’s been attacking the neighboring kingdoms. James answers what he can, but he promises that Anthony hasn’t been ransacking any villages lately thanks to him. Virginia scoffs at the thought of a reformed dragon, but she doesn’t argue any further. Soon enough James will see his mistake, and then she’ll be able to take him home.

* * *

She doesn’t spend any time alone with Anthony for the first few days, making sure to stick by James’s side as much as possible. James chafes under her strict watch, however, and finally shoos her away. Hurt, she takes the opportunity to explore more of the castle, and stumbles across a lab in a high tower with the largest telescope she’s ever seen. The tables are littered with books and pages of notes, and she glances over them before going to check out the telescope. It’s pointed at the stars, sparkling dots visible in the inky black sky, and she stares at them in wonder through the telescope.

She jumps when someone behind her clears their throat, and she quickly steps back from the telescope. Anthony stands in the doorway to the lab, handsome as ever, but now she knows it’s just magic making him look that way. Still, only very powerful dragons can hold a human form for long, so she knows not to underestimate him.

“I am glad to see you enjoying yourself,” he says, either unconcerned with or unaware of her suspicion. “I could show you how to change the angle of the telescope, if you wish.”

“A dragon who studies the stars,” she scoffs, brushing him off. “I didn’t think your kind were interested in anything other than treasure.”

“Science is a treasure,” he says so sincerely she almost feels bad for mocking him. “It’s one of the reasons I like James very much. He understands.”

She falls silent, because it’s one of the reasons she likes James too. He always wants to discover something new, something that he then shows her.

“Well, I’ll leave you be if you don’t want my help,” Anthony says after a moment, nodding at her. “You’re welcome up here any time. Or to the library, if you’re interested. Some of the books are very old, but they’re legible.”

He turns to leave without waiting for her response, but she mutters a “Thank you” before the door closes fully. She never does find out if he heard her or not.

* * *

Virginia glowers over her dinner a few evenings later, trying to ignore Anthony and James. The dragon had admitted over supper he doesn’t know any forms of human dance, and James had eagerly leaped up to teach him. Anthony had fetched a music box to play a tune, since they had no actual musicians, and now James was trying to walk him through some simple steps. Unable to help herself, she watches Anthony blunder around for a few minutes before she sighs and drops her napkin on the table, standing up.

“James, you’re trying to get him to lead while you’re already leading,” she says, interrupting their latest attempt.

James looks up, letting Anthony go, and motioning for Virginia to join him. “Then why don’t we show him how it’s done first?”

She hesitates, not meaning to get involved, but historically she’s always been bad at saying no to James. She takes his hand, and as Anthony resets the music box, goes through a few simple dance steps with James for him to observe.

“It’s quite simple,” she sniffs when they’re done, but the subtle insult goes right over Anthony’s head, who just nods seriously. They switch places, and she winds the music box for them. This time, Anthony follows James’s lead much better, with minimal stumbling.

James smiles widely, an expression of pride on his face. “Of course, there’s usually more than two people on the floor, and you switch partners and such throughout the dance.”

Anthony looks over at Virginia, and James laughs.

“Three’s still not enough. However…” James gives her a contemplative look. “Ginny, come dance with Anthony, let him try to lead this time.”

Virginia frowns. “What? No, why would I dance with him?”

“Because I asked,” James replies with a cheeky grin, and Virginia huffs but goes over to them, holding out a hand to Anthony.

“If you get too close to me I  _will_  stab you,” she says pointedly, and Anthony nods, polite as ever.

James starts up the music and Virginia lets Anthony attempt to guide her through the motions of the dance. She resists at first, but the look of concentration on his face is almost endearing, as if he’s doing his absolute best to get every step correct, and she finds herself helping him along, the two of them dancing until the music box trails to a stop. She stares at him and his peculiar eyes (they’re very, very blue, when they aren’t flickering snakelike slits of gold), until James claps them both on the shoulders and tells Anthony he did a wonderful job. Virginia draws her hand back, wondering what sort of spell had come over her just then.

* * *

The weather warms up and James wants to take them swimming in the lake by the castle. Both of them balk at the idea; Anthony says dragons don’t swim, and Virginia’s half inclined to agree knights don’t swim either. James shrugs and says he’ll just go on his own, and that’s more than enough for both Anthony and Virginia to readily agree to come with him. She can’t have come all this way and spent all this time just to let James drown in a lake, after all.

Virginia doesn’t wear her armor, though she brings her sword. It never hurts to be prepared. Anthony brings a book with him, and James rolls his eyes when he sees the two of them standing on the edge of the lake.

“You two are impossible,” he mutters, already stripping out of his clothes.

Virginia glances away, though it’s not as if she’s never seen him shirtless before. It just seems…odd now, with Anthony watching as well. What James and Anthony have is something she doesn’t want to intrude on, even if she still doesn’t understand why James would give up his life with his family to be with a dragon and she’s trying to break them up so James can come home anyway. She’s got  _some_  principles about the matter.

Left only in his undergarments, James makes a run for the lake, jumping in with a splash. Anthony sits down under a tree, its leaves just starting to sprout again, leaving Virginia to stand there, undecided. Well, if Anthony won’t have any fun, she won’t leave James disappointed. She turns away from him and strips to her last layer as well, dropping the rest of her clothes on the grass and running into the lake.

James waves as she swims over to him, then splashes her as soon as she gets close enough. Sputtering, she splashes him back, igniting a splash war that lasts several minutes until James concedes defeat. Virginia feels like they’re kids again, back when she was in training and she and James would run around all over the castle. Times were simpler then, she thinks with a sigh. James wasn’t running off to court any dragons back then. She misses the way things were.

“James…” she starts, trying to figure out how to put these thoughts into words. “Do you really not want to come back home?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he answers, floating in front of her. He looks over at Anthony, still sitting under the tree with his book. “I miss my family. But I’m a third son. I didn’t have any real responsibility at all except to be spoiled. When I met Anthony, it’s like…a whole new world opened up to me.”

Virginia frowns, pushing her wet hair out of her face. “You had me. Wasn’t that enough?”

Whatever James’s answer, Virginia never hears it. An ear-piercing shriek rends the air, and she whips around, looking for the source. Something large and scaly is flying across the lake, and for a second she thinks it’s Anthony finally showing his true colors planning to eat them both. But the creature’s coming from the wrong direction, and it’s too small to be a full dragon.

“Wyvern!” James shouts, diving for the shore where their clothes are. “Anthony!”

Virginia scrambles after him, but the lake slows their movement, and the wyvern is too fast, it’s wings making waves on the still water. She curses herself for being such an idiot and leaving her armor back at the castle and her sword on the grass, it’ll be all her fault when James gets eaten—

A loud roar answers their yelling, the sound even more heart-stopping than the wyvern’s shrieking. A huge red dragon unfurls its wings underneath that budding tree, the kickback from it taking off nearly knocking Virginia backwards. Anthony shoots across the water, crashing into the wyvern in the air.

Virginia grabs James by the hand and runs the rest of the way out of the lake as the two creatures grapple. The wyvern puts up a fight, but Anthony is larger, his four legs outclassing the wyvern’s two, his claws and teeth strong enough to tear even the strongest of enemies to shreds. Eventually the wyvern goes limp in Anthony’s grip, and the dragon flies to the far side of the lake to dump its body on the shore before flying back to the two shivering humans on the other side.

Virginia has her sword in one hand, James’s hand in the other, and she brandishes the blade at him when he lands, her expression a fierce line of determination. Anthony merely folds his wings back and takes a few wobbling steps before the transformation magic overtakes him, body shrinking and scales disappearing until there’s nothing left but a naked human covered in blood. Most of it is blue, the wyvern’s blood, but Virginia spots a splash of red at his side, and then Anthony’s on his knees, falling forward into the grass.

* * *

They carry Anthony back to his room in the castle, and Virginia tends to his wounds. She has more experience with medicine than James, but even she’s never taken care of a dragon, and she’s unsure if what she can do will be good enough. The gash in his side is the worst of the injuries, and Virginia wonders if he wouldn’t heal faster if he had stayed in his dragon form instead of using up his magic turning back into a human. They can’t do anything until he awakens, so Virginia does the best she can, and then they wait.

She sits vigil with James, not wanting to leave his side. He worries the whole time, holding Anthony’s hand, brushing his hair from his forehead, making her check his bandages more often than she really needs to. Virginia doesn’t protest, just does as asked, surprised to find that she’s worried about Anthony herself. But it’s to be expected, she thinks. He did save their lives fending off that wyvern.

Anthony doesn’t wake for two days, but when he finally does, all his wounds are completely gone.

“I’m sorry for not telling you,” he says, voice a little weak, but otherwise sounding just like he had before. James hugs him tight, and Anthony soothingly runs a hand over James’s back. “I just needed to rest to give my magic time to heal everything. There was no need to worry.”

“Yes, well, we worried anyway,” Virginia snaps, and Anthony looks up at her in surprise. She clears her throat and corrects herself. “James was worried, and I was worried about James.”

“Of course,” Anthony says softly, kissing James on the forehead. Virginia doesn’t think he sounds entirely convinced.

* * *

Nothing changes after that day, and yet, Virginia can’t help but feel like something’s different. She’s not sure if it’s her, or James, or Anthony, but things seem…tense. They go about their days as normal, but sometimes she catches James and Anthony whispering to each other, only to have them clam up when she walks in. She doesn’t even see Anthony for an entire day, and when she asks James what’s wrong, he says there’s nothing wrong.

Dinner that evening is a suspicious affair, Virginia glancing between the two men. She’d been trying to give them extra space since the incident with the wyvern so they can spend time together without her, but this is getting ridiculous.

“Where were you today?” she asks Anthony straight out, not wanting to step politely around the issue. Anthony jumps, startled, and looks to James, who nods. Virginia’s confusion only ramps up at that odd gesture.

“I was…working,” he admits, setting down his fork. He pulls a box out of his pocket, then gets up and kneels beside Virginia’s chair. “In the hopes that you would accept this.”

He opens the box, revealing a golden necklace with the biggest emeralds that Virginia’s ever seen. Her eyes go wide, taking in the gift, then Anthony’s anxious expression.

“What is this?” She looks between him and James, because surely this didn’t come out of nowhere without being discussed with James.

“I wish to ask you to stay here with James and I,” Anthony says, sounding more uncertain than Virginia’s ever heard him. “This is a courting gift.”

Virginia feels incredibly faint. A dragon is presenting her with a courting gift. A dragon who just so happens to already be courting her best friend, who is (was?) a prince.

“And you’re all right with this?” she asks James, looking at him again.

James nods. “I suggested the emeralds, actually. The necklace is from me too.”

“You too,” she squeaks, then shuts her mouth and clears her throat. “This is…”

“You don’t have to say yes,” Anthony says hastily, still kneeling beside her. “You are free to leave at any time. But James and I would be very happy to have you stay.”

She should do as he says and leave. She was only here to get James back in the first place. But how could she return to the King and Queen without their son like she’d promised? She would be disgraced. And if she thought about it…she’s enjoyed her time here. Even if Anthony is a dragon, and the castle is hundreds of years old and starting to fall apart. They’re resourceful people. Maybe they can even put the place back together.

She reaches out, gently touching Anthony’s hand. He looks up at her, waiting, and she nods.

His nervousness fades away into a bright smile, and he stands, taking the necklace from the box. She holds her hair out of the way while he clasps the necklace around her neck, reverently laying the emeralds across her chest.

“Welcome home,” James tells her gleefully, getting up as well and moving around the table to take her hand in his.

Virginia looks down, brushing her fingers over the necklace. What a life she led, and it was all James’s fault. Still, as Anthony helped her stand and James wrapped his arms around her to give her a tight hug, she supposes it could be much, much worse.


End file.
